I've decided I don't know what I'm trying to do with photography, or if I'm succeeding.
I no longer think it can be intellectualized.
So I'll just let my Higher Self guide me, and hope.
Update: From the first comment to this I now realize the above sounds like it's a bad thing. But I don't mean I'm stuck or something, on the contrary, it's probably better than ever. I just mean that while it's going great, I can't say where it's going, but that's fine with me.
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Funny, for many weeks now, I have so often been dreaming at night about photographing. I don't know why, I didn't used to, despite having done it on and off for over thirty years.
Nothing terribly important or emotional about it, a camera and photographing just is part of the dream, like riding a bicycle might be. And very varied cameras and situations too. For instance the night before yesterday I was using a tiny cardboard camera which was also a digicam. At one point I took a snap of myself watching a film featuring Iggy Pop...
I don't know what it all signifies.
I've decided I don't know what I'm trying to do with photography, or if I'm succeeding.
ReplyDeleteI no longer think it can be intellectualized.
Eolake,
Maybe it's just a phase your going through? Sometimes we all do. Keep experimenting with it. At times, I feel the same way about my poetry.
Maybe you need a break from it? Possibly? Then later you can come back to it and pick it up again with a fresh mind and ideas to move forward?
Every artist (I think) at one time or another has felt this way.
"I can't say where it's going, but that's fine with me."
ReplyDeleteI'd say you're moving up into the 4th dimension.
Reminds me of my (ex)brother-in-law. He was a Buddhist monk and an artist. He told me once he wanted to capture the beauty of fallen logs in the forest in paint, but never could quite get it. Then he began just going out and sitting in the woods. He used to go out there for hours, listening and being there. From out of this period came the most awesome paintings of trees I've ever seen. He said he lost the boundaries for awhile between himself and what he was capturing, did not know where he was going with it, but allowed himself to go with it.
in my opinion the result was a most remarkable art.
"I don't know what's good".
ReplyDeleteThis is good.
"At one point I took a snap of myself watching a film featuring Iggy Pop...
ReplyDeleteI don't know what it all signifies."
Probably that Iggy Pop's weirdness is contagious. I like him, but he IS weird. :-)
"I know only one thing: that I know nothing. And this is half of all knowledge." (Socrates)
"I know only one thing: that I know nothing. And this is half of all knowledge." (Socrates)
ReplyDeleteWhat's the other half?
I think ol' Socrates is wrong. There is a virtually limitless supply of knowledge. Understanding how little you know is half of all wisdom. I'll forgive him, though. He lived in ancient times, when they didn't know any better.
Assuming they were dumber in ancient times is a fallacy. The nature of the human mind has not changed. Science has greatly advanced society, but that doesn't mean we know anymore now than we did then.
ReplyDeleteThe other half of knowledge is knowing why you know nothing. Wisdom is knowing how and when to apply knowledge. Wisdom is gained through application. If all three are utilized properly, the boundaries between them blur and you see them as they are: the same thing performing many functions.
As for its first function, knowledge, we know nothing because we do not fully grasp the nature of our so-called reality. Many assume they do, but this assumption erects a wall in their minds that they have to break through before they can continue advancing.
All we have now are concepts of the truth, not the actual truth. Without that understanding we learn much, but that knowledge only pertains to things which amount to nothing. That which is of value lies beyond our powers of perception. The purpose of our senses is to aid us in expanding to the point that we can grasp the greater reality. They cannot serve this purpose if we've not the mind to call them to aid us in this endeavor. How can we have the mind for it if we assume what they tell us by default is true? That amounts to unconscious (and powerless) living. We must use our minds to sift through the data and tweak these abilities so they are more responsive to our commands and thus more useful as tools on this level of existence.
The path to true knowledge requires an empty mind.
"Assuming they were dumber in ancient times is a fallacy."
ReplyDeleteI know that. I was trying to be funny.
Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn't.
"The path to true knowledge requires an empty mind."
Baloney.
The elevation of ignorance is the source of many of our current troubles, and in the past it has been the source of greater troubles yet. The worst thing about elevating ignorance is that we think it immunizes us against experience. Reality always wins in the end.
"The path to true knowledge requires an empty mind."
ReplyDeleteBaloney. Part 2
The path to true knowledge requires an "open mind" capable of understanding faith and truth.
Seldom can you teach a heathen anything.
That's why the sociopath in the White House cannot learn anything from the past because of his barbaric quest for blood and his bias administration that feeds off the religious right in America.
The RR kneels to nearly anyone who crys out "I'm pro-life" no matter if their leader is a war activist.
Not all who scream out, "I'm a Christian" bearing truth and honor are actually that. They wear masks practicing in front of mirrors full of evil knowledge and unhealthy warped faith. They are everything except having an empty mind.
"I know only one thing: that I know nothing. And this is half of all knowledge." (Socrates)
ReplyDeleteSocrates was an idiot.
Quoting him is like drinking a glass of ignorace and feeling good about it.
Having an empty mind does not mean being ignorant. It means holding no attachments to whatever you currently define as knowledge so there is room for expansion and correction. It is meant to eliminate ignorance, not encourage it.
ReplyDeleteWell, Michael, I believe Socrates meant that by being aware that one'll always ignore more than he knows, a man knows the most important thing there is about knowledge. Precisely that it is infinite.
ReplyDeleteThis "half" business needs to be seen through perspective. The first, most important step, seen from the starting point, might appear as long as all the rest of the journey to the horizon.
You wouldn't believe, in a society like Lebanon, how easily you'll meet people who believe they have ALL the world figured out. I mean, really everything. Oy! The more ignorant they are, the more knowledgeable they think they are. And brag about it, too!
Reminds me of that old poet's saying : "This people, if you hit their heads with a shoe, the shoe might be the one to complain!"
An arabian poet wrote that!
Peaceful Blade,
I'd say the open mind's desire for knowledge is not a hunger, but an appetite. A taste. You know you'll never swallow it all, and gluttony is not your purpose, just the pleasure of feeding yourself. This is how I view my pleasure of learning. I don't NEED more and always more, I just love to have it. And the more I have, the more I can share too, so it is the opposite of selfish greed. :-)
There's more than enough of the stuff for everybody, right?
"The path to true knowledge requires an empty mind."
I'd say the obnoxious know-it-alls I described are... FULL of themselves. :-)
So they have no more room for anything else.
Michael Burton said...
"Assuming they were dumber in ancient times is a fallacy."
I know that. I was trying to be funny.
Hey, I think you were. :-)
Anonymous said...
"Socrates was an idiot."
Ah, but Ulysses said : "My name is Nobody." Same difference?
Come out of there, Odysseus, you've been found out! No need to hide under the Invisibility Helmet of Hades any more.
About drinking a glass of ignorance... I'd like to seize this opportunity to warn you all that drinking sodas is NOT good for the health, on the contrary. That stuff can wreak havoc on your stomach, kidneys, and bones over time.
Basically, abuse can give you gastritis/ulcer, irreversible kidney failure leading to dialysis, and grave osteoporosis at a very early age.
I'd say, try never to drink more than two or three cans a week, *tops*. Ideally, don't drink any at all!
This is free medical knowledge I'm sharing for the greater good. Please spread the word, it's all proven.
Nildar,
I'm sure by "empty mind" Peaceful Blade didn't mean "empty of knowledge". More like empty of certitudes. Just like the awareness meant by Socrates.
Arithmetic knowledge tells me that 1+1=2. This ceases to be true in other domains. In Geometry, 1+1 unitary vectors can give a vector of any length between zero and two. Including, with an equilateral triangle, 1+1=1. In biology, reproduction amounts to 1+1=3. So, applying arithmetics to the whole universe builds walls in front of true knowledge.
An "empty mind" always has room for new viewpoints and knowledge.
Signalroom,
ReplyDeleteYour example beautifully illustrates how one may very simply see the Truth by letting go.
"Do, or do not. There is no trying." (Master Yoda)